Ole Miss vs. Kentucky Postgame Quotes

Nov. 5, 2011

OLE MISS HEAD COACH Houston Nutt

On Kentucky throwing a lot of deep balls at the beginning of the game
"I felt like that's the strength of this quarterback. When Newton went down and we found out that this guy would be starting we knew that was his strength, hand the ball off and throw the deep ball. They max everything up and throw some one-on-one routes. We were trying to stop the run and get them off the field but we put ourselves in some one-on-one situations."

On settling for field goals on the first two drives
"We missed a block on the first drive, we missed a couple blocks in the red zone that normally lead to scores. You have to give credit to No. 22 (Danny Trevathan), he is a football player, he makes a bunch of tackles. We stopped ourselves really and then we got a touchdown called back."

On his feelings at the end of the third quarter
"We felt good, felt good about the sideline and everybody involved. We were making plays, we just didn't make any in the fourth quarter to win this game and that is what is really frustrating."

On the missed pass on the first drive
"I thought it hit his hands, I didn't have a great angle but I thought it should have been caught. Without watching the film I'm not 100-percent but those are the kind of plays you have to make to win games in the SEC."

On the effort of his team
"I thought we played really hard, I thought we juiced up and went to another level in the third quarter. Bottom line, nothing is good enough when you don't win and everything looks worse."

OLE MISS PLAYERS

QB Randall Mackey

On critical penalties
"It's our own mistakes as an offensive unit, we just keep backing ourselves up. That's on us."

On settling for two field goals instead of touchdowns to start the game
"The touchdown pass to Donte Moncrief, they called it pass interference, I didn't see it as pass interference though. If we could have had those two drives back we could have knocked them out in the first quarter."

On the penalties being due to a distraction because of losing games
"No, it's just hard for a coach to call a play when it's second and third and twenty-one."

LB Serderius Bryant

On if there is a lack of confidence on the team
"A little bit in the second half, like it's a different vibe. We'll keep bringing each other up though and I think we'll have a pretty good team."

On if he believes there is good leadership on the team
"I feel like there is a lot of good leadership. There are a lot of good leaders on the team, we just have to step up and do what it takes to win."

SE Donte Moncrief

On whether or not youth is the problem for the team right now
"I don't think it's being young, I think there is just some stuff we need to work on."

On how much Kentucky's pass rush affected the passing game
"They were getting a lot of pressure on (Randall) Mackey, but Mackey is a tough quarterback. He stuck it out to try and get us a win. I thought he played really well tonight."

On how much the receivers had to break off routes
"We had to break them off a lot because the defensive line was getting a lot of pressure on the quarterback."

On if he thought his first quarter touchdown catch that was called back for offensive pass interference was a penalty
"It was a defensive back and a receiver in the SEC. That's how we play in the SEC. We both battle for the ball and they just called me for it."

KENTUCKY HEAD COACH JOKER PHILLIPS

Opening statement
"Where do we start at? Big win. Our plan to win that we go over every week is first win the battle. Win the turnover margin. Again we didn't have any turnovers. Not sure of our record when we don't turn the ball over, but that is two weeks now (NOTE: UK is 7-1 under Phillips when it wins the turnover battle). That is how you win games. You look at last year. We turned the ball over three times against these guys. This year we made them drive the field and that is how you get yourself a chance to win. Run the football. We had a 100-yard rusher. The other one is stop the run. We didn't stop the run like we would like to but we didn't give up many big runs. We gave up the big run on the reverse early in the game and that hurt us. Get ourselves off the field on third downs, 7-for-17. We gave up a couple early in the game. And then keep ourselves on the field on third down. We were only 5-of-13; that was not good. But the thing we did was we also won field position, we won the fourth quarter and we got the ball in the end zone in the red zone. Those things equal wins. As long as we stick with our plan we feel like we have a chance to win games.

"We also did some special things on offense and defense. One was how we protected our quarterback. Our deal was to make sure we kept him upright and keep him clean. But a lot of those things he has to do on his own, which is help the protection, get the ball out of his hands when he needed to, defeat man coverage which we did a good job of beating man-to-man coverage. Whether it is running away from them across the field, and we actually got behind people today in the first half, we had some chances for some big ones but they came out as foul balls. We got behind them and they were foul balls, but in the second half we hit some home runs, which you have to have when people play you in man-to-man coverage. Defensively we got ourselves off the field on third down and caused a turnover that was big. And in special teams we didn't flip the field on our return game but we did flip the field on our coverage teams, so that means it was a total team effort. All phases did a great job to help us win the football game."

On the play of freshman quarterback Maxwell Smith
"Max did an unbelievable job of picking himself off the ground. He did take some hits now, but he did a good job of picking himself up off the field. To me a big-time quarterback takes it right in the lips and stands in there and delivers. He is performing like a freshman at times with some of the things he is doing but at times is he showing bit-time flashes of being a great quarterback for us."

On getting quality plays on the deep passing game
"Another hat in the box and again our goal was to beat man-to-man coverage. In the first half, it was a foul ball. We tried to throw to (La'Rod) King, we tried to throw to (Matt) Roark but in the second half we hit a couple of them for home runs. Now you start playing a little softer in your coverage, you start putting a safety over top of those defenders and we start the running game."

On the deep passing game
"I think today definitely it was there. It's our receivers' jobs to get them into cover two, the two safety looks. Then it becomes our running job to get them back into one-safety looks. And you just keep going back and forth and we did a good job of that today. Our run game did a good job of getting them into single-safety looks. Once they went into single-safety looks our receivers did a good job, and our quarterback did a good job, of saying we weren't going to let you play us in single-safety looks. And we got some two-safety looks and we got back to the run game."

On if Maxwell Smith was given many checks to make at the line
"We tried to take most of them out of his hands and let him play. A lot of that stuff that we were doing was just check with me, meaning check with coach (Randy) Sanders."

On how Maxwell Smith looked pregame
"He was relaxed. I think last week helped that, a lot. He went in and had a good week of practice and just came out and played."

On Maxwell Smith's toughness
"The guy is a tough individual. Tough mental guy. That is what it takes to play that position because there is so much stuff on the quarterback that he has to manage."

On the team rallying around Maxwell Smith
"I don't know if it was rallying around Max, our guys were rallying around each other. We have been talking about locking arms and going to work together and working for each other. It wasn't so much for Max."

On Danny Trevathan's 17-tackle performance
"He had 17 again this week. He is unbelievable. Danny is definitely the leader of this football team, not only does he lead by the way he plays but he leads by the way he prepares for the game. Now he is starting to lead vocally. That has definitely helped bring some other people with him. Danny is trying to bring some people with him."

KENTUCKY PLAYERS

RB CoShik Williams

On the running game opening up the passing attack
"It makes it really easy, and it opens up the passing game. We get a lot of deep balls, and new we have the receivers and quarterbacks on the same connections. It opens up the running game a lot."

On the ability to throw opening up the running game
"When you run the ball consistently, you get about six or seven yards a pop. When you do a little play action, it opens up the passing game a little bit more."

On Maxwell Smith's performance at quarterback
"Max (Smith) played really well, and he protected himself really well, too. He made good picks when he saw the blitzes, and he made good completions."

LB Danny Trevathan

On getting the win
"I think we played pretty well tonight. We really got after the quarterback. I think we shut down what they were trying to do. (Ole Miss) had some big plays, but that all comes with football. You have to be able to adapt well and I think we played our type of ball today and I think we looked like a team."

On his 17 tackles tonight
"I just try to play off my guys and feed off of them. I just try to motivate those guys. The offensive line did a good job if shutting down the quarterback and trying to let me fill voids, and exploit the gaps. All the credit goes to the guys."

On the offensive performance
"It was pretty good. I have been telling them that they have to take it one game at a time and they have to step up. It's going to be hard. We are in the SEC, and we have young guys. When you start winning, you start to get that feeling and I think the guys have that now. It's going to be a good finish to the season."

QB Maxwell Smith

On throwing 36 passes
"I actually didn't expect to throw it that many times but I was ready to throw it that many times if I had to. I was ready to do it if I needed to."

On his mentality before the game
"I was really relaxed. I had all my teammates with me and we were just listening to music to get hyped before the game. I was just relaxed. I felt really good and I was confident about the game plan and we executed well."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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